Police arrested the 21-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy in connection to fires at three historically black churches in one Louisiana Parish in just 10 days. The fires were devastating to the St. Landry Parish community.

Investigators arrested suspect Holden Matthews Wednesday evening. He was charged Thursday morning with three counts of simple arson of a religious building. The maximum penalty for each counts is 15 years in prison. …

Records show Matthews lives in Saint Landry Parish, where the churches burned just a few miles apart.”

Three historically black churches in St. Landry Parish, in south-central Louisiana, have been set on fire in a span of ten days. On Wednesday, April 10, Holden Matthews, the 21-year-old son of a St. Landry sheriff’s deputy, was arrested as the suspected arsonist behind the fires.

The string of arsons began on March 26 in the town of Port Barre, where the St. Mary Baptist Church burned down under suspicious circumstances. One week later, in nearby Opelousas, two more churches caught fire, the Greater Union Baptist Church on April 2 and the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church two days later.

The churches were empty at the time of the fires and no injuries have been reported, but given the region’s dark history of racist attacks by whites against black churches local parishioners were concerned about a possible racial motivation behind the burnings.

The Democratic governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, gave a press conference laying out the tone of the investigation: “I don’t know what this young man’s motive was, I don’t know what was in his heart, but I can say it cannot be justified or rationalized,” Edwards said, “It has been especially painful because it reminds us of a very dark past of intimidation and fear.”

According to the latest Census data, St. Landry Parish, west of Baton Rouge, is home to over 83,000 people. Located in the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole community St. Landry’s population is about 56 percent white and 42 percent black. Holden Matthews is white.

Given that the churches targeted were historically black—St. Mary’s in particular has been around for 126 years as an African American Baptist Church—the Southern Poverty Law Center is classifying these burnings as a hate crime. The sheriff’s department has not explicitly declared the burnings a hate crime and prosecutors have not yet brought hate crime charges, which carry with them harsher sentences.

According to authorities, Matthews’ truck was caught on camera leaving one of the churches and a specifically branded gas can used in the burnings was found in his possession.

While it is unclear if racial hatred was a major motivating factor, Matthews, a musician in a local metal band, has made comments on Facebook praising black metal artists known for burning churches in Norway in the early 90s. According to his profile Matthews is a fan of “black metal”, a subgenre of hard rock, which in some areas has attracted advocates of white nationalism and neo-Nazi ideologies.

Matthews’ father Roy Matthews is a deputy at the local sheriff’s department but was not involved in the investigation. He claimed he was unaware of his son’s activities and did not know of any racist bias his son may have had.

The New Orleans division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms led the investigation into the attacks, claiming to advocate a “zero tolerance” approach to the case. “These were evil acts,” Governor Edwards said at the news conference.

Whatever his motives in the church burnings, and their connection to far-right, neo-Nazi ideology, Matthews’ actions are a warning sign of a greater social crisis in a region which is impoverished and has had public education virtually gutted in recent decades under both Republican and Democratic leadership.

The Lafayette area has itself seen a steady decline in good paying manufacturing and oil jobs over the years. In St. Landry Parish the most common job available is custodian, at extremely low pay.

Holden Matthews‘ arrested for allegedly burning down three historic Black churches in Louisiana came on Wednesday. But the suspected white supremacist was still getting sympathy in mainstream media coverage. The Associated Press made sure to report early on in its story Friday that Matthews’ friend said the man accused of racist arson was actually “a really sweet guy”: here.

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Megan Welter, 29, an Iraq War veteran turned NFL cheerleader was arrested for aggravated assault, destroying property and disorderly conduct after she allegedly attacked her boyfriend, who captured the incident on his cell phone. Welter, 29, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is seen on the cell phone video obtained by media sources angrily questioning her boyfriend about text messages between him and a female friend. “Who is she!” Welter is heard screaming in the footage as her boyfriend, who has not been identified, tries to calm her down.

For the second time in 10 days, a gunman has opened fire on police in an American city, causing mass casualties. Sunday’s attack took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with three police officers shot to death and three wounded, one severely.

The gunman, 29-year-old Gavin Long from Kansas City, Missouri was an African-American ex-Marine. He was shot to death at the scene of the attack. …

Two of the murdered policemen were Baton Rouge city officers, while the third was a sheriff’s deputy from East Baton Rouge Parish (county). As of this writing, only one of the three officers had been identified: 32-year-old Montrell Jackson, himself an African-American, a 10-year veteran of the Baton Rouge police and the new father of a two-month-old boy. …

Very little information has yet been released by police about the circumstances of the shooting, which followed a 911 call at 8:45 a.m. reporting a gunman outside the convenience store. It is not clear who placed that call, whether it was part of a deliberate ambush, or what happened when the first police officers arrived and encountered Long. …

There were numerous conflicting and largely unverified reports about Long’s political views and motivation. NBC News reported that he had ties to an ultra-right group known as the Sovereign Citizens, who reject most government authority. The Wall Street Journal reported a connection to an otherwise unheard-of “New Freedom Group,” which it described as “anti-government.” …

Whatever the specific motivation of the attack, political or otherwise, the murderous assault on individual policemen is completely reactionary. It does not “avenge” the killing of Alton Sterling. Such acts politically disorient the working class and youth, and serve to strengthen the forces of police violence and repression directed against working people of all races.

This is demonstrated by the political reaction that followed, as Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, President Obama and the two main candidates to succeed him, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, all issued statements calling for even more resources to strengthen the police. …

Leading Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson was among those arrested on Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Sterling, a husband and father of five, was shot and killed outside a convenience store while selling CDs. Mckesson was released the following day and is being charged with simple obstruction of a highway of commerce. Since his release, he has criticized Baton Rouge police for provoking protesters and doing “everything in their power” to shift conversations away from police accountability.”

According to CNN, at least 309 individuals have been arrested in New York City, New York; Chicago, Illinois; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana for participating in protests against the police killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling: here.

Rudy Giuliani is on one of his “black people suck” media tours. This time he’s explaining how black kids are the real problem in America. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

“Rudy Giuliani sparked national outrage with comments he made about the Black Lives Matter movement Sunday…

A CNN panel recently got a little heated when former NYPD detective Harry Houck said black people are more prone to criminality. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.

“Former NYPD detective Harry Houck on Monday argued that the black Americans were “prone to criminality,” and that activists should stop claiming that blacks were being “picked on” by law enforcement.

During a panel discussion on CNN’s New Day about police killing two black men, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, Houck argued that “racial demagogues” were wrong to complain about “disparities of blacks and whites in jails.”

Houck presented a sheet of paper which he said had statistics proving that black people were far more likely to commit violent crimes than whites.

“That’s why there are more blacks in jail than there are whites,” he insisted. “They turn it around — the racial demagogues out there — turn it around that the blacks are being picked on.”

A woman’s peaceful act of resistance is reminiscent of Tiananmen Square’s “Tank Man.”

07/10/2016 08:26 pm ET | Updated 5 hours ago

While there are similarities with the well-known video from 1989 in Beijing, China there is a difference as well. During that bloody crackdown on anti-Chinese government protesters, the tanks stopped in order not to hurt the demonstrator. While the Louisina woman’s peaceful protest did not stop the police from arresting her.

The woman in the image above, which was taken by Reuters photographer Jonathan Bachman, was among those arrested for refusing to leave an area highway. Emblematic of Tiananmen Square’s infamous and unknown “Tank Man,” neither Reuters or the Associated Press were able to identify the woman, who was later detained.

Bachman told The Atlantic police in riot gear were moving protesters off the Airline Highway to the side of the road when he saw the woman calmly plant her feet and refuse to leave. He said, for the most part, the demonstrations in the city have been peaceful and the woman’s actions reflected that:

It happened quickly, but I could tell that she wasn’t going to move, and it seemed like she was making her stand. To me it seemed like: You’re going to have to come and get me. And I just thought it seemed like this was a good place to get in position and make an image, just because she was there in her dress and you have two police officers in full riot gear.

HUNDREDS ARRESTED IN PROTESTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY “Protests against the shootings of two black men by police officers shut down main arteries in a number of U.S. cities on Saturday, leading to numerous arrests, scuffles and injuries in confrontations between police and demonstrators.”

Large demonstrations continued across the United States over the weekend sparked by recent police murders in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and New York City. The new wave of protests followed the release of video footage showing police shooting and killing unarmed black men on Tuesday and Wednesday: here.

Alton Sterling’s family was responding to his death during a press conference, when his eldest son broke down crying. He is 15 years old. Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

“He [her son Cameron Sterling] had to watch this, as this was put all over the outlets,” Quinyetta McMillan said. “As a mother, I have now been forced to raise a son who is going to remember what happened to his father.”

Alton Sterling, 37, was killed early Tuesday in a shooting that was captured on cellphone video. In the video, two officers appear to struggle with Sterling and slam him to the ground.